Government of Canada SLE French Practice Test: Free Reading and Writing

A good SLE practice test mirrors the formats of the two written tests of the Government of Canada’s Second Language Evaluation: written expression (fill in the blank and spot the error in work texts) and reading comprehension (complete a work text or answer a question about it). Both are multiple choice, in French if French is your second official language. This page is about practising them.

Here you can try 5 French practice questions free in our test player, find the free practice the Public Service Commission of Canada (PSC) itself publishes, read the score table of its self-assessment Level Tests, and learn how to run and mark a practice test so that it tells you something. For the format of the real tests and the official score bands, see our SLE test guide; for what a result means once you have one, see our SLE results guide. If you were looking for the Wonderlic Scholastic Level Exam, which is also shortened to SLE, that is a different test.

ProSyllabus is an independent study site. It is not part of the Public Service Commission of Canada (PSC), the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat or any federal department, and nothing here is an official test. The rules on this page are quoted or summarised from the canada.ca pages listed at the end; the French questions are our own, not PSC test content, which is protected.

PSC self-assessment tests page and Level Test booklets, read 6 Nov 2026.

These play in the same player as our full simulations: press Start, answer them, and the result page shows your score and explains every answer in English. Three are written expression questions and two are reading questions. They are our own questions in the PSC’s question types, not PSC test content. They are free, with no payment.

The PSC publishes free self-assessment tests, called Level Tests in their booklets, for reading comprehension and written expression, in French and in English. Its PSC self-assessment tests page says they give you an idea of the level (A, B or C) you could attain on the official test, that their results are unofficial and cannot be used in a selection process, and that they differ from the official tests in length and question types. You can take them online or on paper; the paper version is a test booklet and a separate answer key in PDF. They are also available in multiple formats for people who need assessment accommodation.

Both booklets ask you not to consult external sources, and to avoid spending too long on a difficult question: if unsure, eliminate the least likely options and choose the best remaining one. The facts in this table are from the paper booklets; the online page does not say whether the online versions have the same length.

Each answer key gives one point per correct answer, out of 40, and this table to turn your score into an indicated level. Note the “between” ranges, which the official tests do not have. The keys start at 1, so a score of 0 is below the lowest range:

Both keys add a warning: if you took longer than the time limit (45 minutes in writing, 60 in reading), your score may not be an accurate predictor of your level. So time yourself strictly. And these ranges are for the 40-question Level Tests only. Do not use them to read a score on an official test or on a full-length simulation, which have their own bands: see the SLE test guide.

One warning from the PSC: it watches the internet for copies of its protected test questions, and asks you to tell its Personnel Psychology Centre if you see them shared, including in a practice test. And if you realise you have seen the test questions outside the testing session, the PSC says to inform the test administrator immediately. A good practice test therefore uses original questions in the same format, as ours do.

The supervised written tests are taken in the Candidate Assessment Tool, so the way you move through a practice test matters as much as the questions. The PSC describes the tool like this:

Our player is close to this: you can skip, go back, change answers and mark questions for review, and before you submit you see how many questions are answered, not answered and marked. One difference: in our player an answer counts only once you save it (Save & Next), so save each one. Our tips for a practice run: sit it in one go with the timer on, with no dictionary or translator; since you cannot tell the pilot questions apart, treat every question as if it counts; on your first pass answer what you can and mark the rest; and leave the last few minutes to clear every skipped and marked question. Answering every question is the habit you want on the day.

A score alone does not tell you what to study. After each practice test, write every wrong answer in a short log. This is our method, not a PSC one:

After two or three tests, the log shows a pattern. If many errors come from the same rule, study that rule. If many are “read too fast”, slow down and read the whole sentence. If you often leave the last questions unanswered, work on your pace. Our result page helps you fill it in: the answer review shows each question, so you can note its type, and the breakdown by topic and the English explanation of every answer help with the rule and the fix. To see how far a practice score is from the next level, use the band arithmetic in our SLE results guide.

One question of each kind, in the formats the PSC describes. Try them before you open the answers.

Five questions show you the question types, how our player works and whether the explanations help you. They cannot place you at a level: the official supervised tests score 55 questions in writing and 50 in reading, and one wrong answer in five is a big swing. For a first idea of your level, take the PSC Level Tests above, timed. For a full rehearsal, take a full-length simulation.

It does not cover the oral assessment. For what the oral involves, see our SLE test guide.